Episode 6 The River

The Scottish Borders - a land steeped in history...

Good lad.

..and rivalry...

Pass the ball, Dale!

CHEERING

..with its own unique customs...

CHEERING

There're more men than sheep are afraid.

And twisting through these lands for 97 miles...

The world-famous Tweed -

in my view, it's the best salmon-fishing river in Scotland.

Over the last eight months, we've followed the river guardians...

I kind of look as if I've been arrested.

We've learnt of old traditions...

Every morning, I love getting up to go and see the horses.

..and embraced the new.

-It's just another part of life here.

-Three, two, one...

Go!

Come on, Aiden!

As the modern Borders redefines its identity,

welcome to life along The River.

David Trouton and his team at Floors Stud have some

exercises planned for their star yearlings.

Here we go. Shall I go for him?

-Are you going for the Frankel?

-Aye, that's OK.

That's a relief.

Today we've got the shoes on,

so we're going to go for a walk out on the roads,

erm, so it's their first time out.

With just eight weeks to go until the sales at Newmarket,

they need the horses looking their finest and fittest -

a foray onto the estate roads is required.

The Frankel managed to last, we think,

about 18 hours before he lost his first shoe,

so he's just got a pad on his foot.

He needs to have the... The shoe will go back on later today.

It is reasonably common.

So, most horseshoes have little clips at the front and the side,

but you don't want to have clips on knees because it's a...

-When you put a...

-HORSE WHINNIES

It's a central point and they can assess how straight they are.

With the horses leaving the safety of the stud for the first time,

it adds an extra element of uncertainty for David, Peter,

Gareth and Chris.

The potential worries are anything that might threaten them,

which, actually, could be anything from a leaf landing on their head,

which could upset someone who's feeling a bit fragile.

But we'll go around the corner and there's benches.

There's all sorts of things they might object to.

The curse of the benches...

-Someone's got to go in the lead.

-HORSE WHINNIES

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey...

I'll give you a lead. I reckon...

But, actually, you've got to be fairly brave with these things.

They need to get fit. They need to see things.

You can't just wrap them up in cotton wool.

Good boy! Good boy! Good boy.

And the benches on our left, they're the most terrifying thing,

it would appear, to yearlings for some reason.

Hold on!

Yeah, you get up ahead.

It's quite nice. You go to the other end and, actually,

you get into the little bit of wood, and their heads drop and they relax.

It's a bit more tense coming through an open space for them, like this.

It's baby steps for the horses,

developing their muscles and mind ahead of the sales.

WATER HISSES

MOOING

We have three days until the...

until showing day, so, erm...

we're just, sort of, in final preparations,

washing and clipping and training.

Farmer Robert Wilson and daughter Lottie are preparing their

prized cows for the Kelso Show.

So, this one's finished at the moment.

There's probably a bit more hair come up

since we clipped her the other day,

so at some stage we'll probably just tidy her up on the top a little bit.

And she's also very wet...

Lottie.

I can't reach on top!

We'll maybe get you a box, should we?

MOOING

CLIPPERS BUZZ

On show day, Lottie will be handling her own calf alongside her dad.

I'm actually really excited.

This will be my first time that I get to lead in a class,

and it definitely won't be my last.

I'll be leading Julia, because she's the main one I'm going to lead,

so I need to practise on her the most.

Come on, Lot.

So, Robert gets the calf training session underway.

This... This will be the first time at the Kelso Show,

yeah, she's been leading,

and up until now, she's not been big enough and we've not had the

right animal, so I'm making sure she's paying attention to

her animal at all times,

and making sure the animal's showing itself off correctly,

in that she's holding its head up.

Then, when she stops, making sure its feet are in the right position

to show it off properly.

She's doing well, isn't she?

Heading into the Glentress hills is mountain biker Neil Dalgleish.

In the early days of mountain biking,

this forest was one of the first places

that people started riding on,

and then the Forestry Commission built mountain bike trails.

So, then, over the last, I don't know,

a decade and a half, two decades,

Glentress has, you know, it's become a major part of the community.

And I think, you know, we're really blessed here that, you know,

we've got these hills here and there's incredible trails,

sort of, all over the place.

Well, I'm going to take...

Neil runs a biking event company and he's heading out to

fix some sections of the Glentress trails

ahead of the International Enduro.

We just want to make sure that the entrance is...

is as smooth and has as much flow...

I don't know how to, how to define or how to explain what flow is,

but it's just a...a really...

a great feeling you get when you're bombing down a hill on a bike.

I mean, that's the thing -

these trails have all been built by bikers and for bikers.

It doesn't make it any easier walking up them, though.

Well, I suppose you could dig this out and dig that, and keep that...

Neil and the team of volunteers will work their way down the trail

from the entrance at the top.

You can see we've got a pretty muddy, boggy bit, and we're just

trying to clean off some of the mud so it's not so boggy,

get down to a bit of harder ground, and, in the process,

kind of, clear some of the roots out of the way.

They're making the course as safe as possible for the riders.

There's... One thing that we're doing is, kind of,

just bits where there's a narrow rut, we're just...

just taking the edges off.

You know, they're OK just now, but by the time there's been

a few thousand wheels down here,

it'll get eroded that wee bit further,

and more roots will get...will get exposed.

Neil and the volunteers will be preparing 12km of forest trails

for the event, the biggest of its kind in Britain.

I'll just get rid of that one.

World-class riders come here and they finish one of the stages,

and absolutely buzzing,

just saying, "That's one of the best things I've ever ridden,"

you know, it's fantastic and I guess that's why we're all

so proud of where we live.

At Floors Stud, David and Peter are increasing the horses' training.

-Yes.

-HORSE WHINNIES

The next milestone - lunging.

Well, they're going for their debut run in the...

in the lunge ring,

so we tape up their feet just to try and keep the shoes on.

Come on, big man.

The horses have the potential to sell for millions of pounds.

'The lunging's really important.

'It's, you know, we...' Hey. Come on.

'At this stage, they're not ridden...' Good boy.

'..so the only way we can exercise them to get them fit,

'to look the part for the sales, is to walk them,

'either in hand or on a walker, or lunge them.' Good boy. Good lad.

'And you just hope they have a nice introduction, enjoy it,

'and then go on from there.' Hey, good boy!

Hey!

To earn the millions the team are dreaming of,

the horses will have to look like the finished article.

There we go. Let's see what the Frankel is made of. Come on, then.

-Lunging will get them that step closer.

-Come on.

Most of it's about how they move, really.

The paper's very important,

what's on the pedigree and what they look like, but it's how they walk

and how they move, cos they're athletes - they're racehorses.

-Go on!

-Go on!

-Go on.

Stud groom Gareth is keeping a watchful eye over the training.

-It's all right.

-Ultimately, it's to get them fit,

-and it develops muscle.

-Go on.

-Go on.

It improves muscle tone, and if you give them plenty of lunging,

the muscles develop and tone,

and they look ready to go when they're at the sales.

OK.

-Whoa, there. Whoa.

-I think very successful, yes? No?

It looks good, Peter. You'll have seen more of Attraction's

offspring than me, but...

-Oh, he's as good as we've had.

-Yeah.

-He's always a good-moving horse when he's relaxed, isn't he?

-He is.

-He's a good-moving horse.

-Does the job.

There's only a couple of people that realistically are going to

buy him, and they've gone very quiet this year.

Sheikh Mohammed's the main man.

He hasn't turned up in America to buy anything,

and he hasn't turned up in France

-to buy anything two weeks ago...

-HORSE WHINNIES

..and we've had Doncaster this week and he hasn't been there either,

so everyone's starting to get quite twitchy now.

I'll head down to see the fishermen, see what they've had. Erm...

I got them going on Monday morning,

so I've been busy strimming the last couple of days,

so I'm just heading down now to see if they've caught any fish.

Colin Bell is a ghillie on the River Tweed.

Erm... I've always wanted to be a ghillie.

I left school and became a plumber but my heart was in the ghillying.

And as a boy growing up in Kelso here, at the time,

you couldnae get a job as a ghillie unless your dad was a ghillie.

I got the chance of a part-time job at Dryburgh in '92.

I started on Upper Floors, February '95.

I still enjoy it, you know. It's... It's a nice job.

With the fishing season at its quietest,

Colin has just the one fisherman to check on.

Your best chance when the water's as low as this is to...

is to get down early.

Fish early and then leave it, rest it,

and come back in the evening.

-Morning, Robert.

-Morning.

Any joy?

-Erm, well, we had lots of fish on the first day.

-Very good.

Oh, well, I'll leave you to it.

Crack on.

We've had two fish on Monday. That's good.

Monday's a good time to come to the Tweed.

It's the one day you've had a rest -

over Sunday, there's no fishing in Scotland.

So I always say to people, if you can, try and get a Monday,

because if you come on a Friday or a Saturday,

it's been hammered all week.

You're just putting the fish down.

So, Monday, complete rest for 24 hours, come in there...

and get a fish on.

Not always.

Up. Come on.

In the summer months, the river banks tend to need

more attention than the fishing clients.

We come off the fishing lets, er, you know,

show people where to go, what to do, what the rods are,

and then get on the grass cutting, and basically keep the beat tidy.

That's our job for the summer time.

TOOL RUMBLES

For four months of spring, you know, all that you talk about,

all you talk about is what line, what fly, you know?

Your job is a ghillie, and that's it.

You know, so you get a wee bit of a break from that, you know,

and just a different aspect to the job.

But certainly by the middle of August, I mean, you know,

you're fed up of the grass here and you want back on again,

back on to the flies and lines and things.

Done.

On Tweed Green in Peebles, the big day has arrived for Neil.

It's the morning of the TweedLove International Enduro.

Have you had any joy, Neil?

Whilst Neil's been hard at it out on the trails,

his wife Fiona has been registering the riders.

It's begun, yes.

Yeah, yeah, it's good.

Everybody's here - all the stalls and the stands and the riders.

We've got Americans, I've met a French...a couple of French guys,

some Italians, a Canadian guy,

and then the professional riders are from all over the shop,

so, yeah, it's really, really good.

Yeah, I'm really, really chuffed at the moment. It's looking great.

Nice to see so many people here.

The weather's holding up. It's great.

Hiya, all right?

Erm...

Fabulous food - I'm pleased about that.

And some of the world's biggest bike brands are here, so that's cool.

You know, I'm a bike geek too,

so it's great for me to get a chance to see.

Like, I've not seen that bike before and I've...

It's a chance for me to be a fan as well.

The riders will have to descend some of the hardest,

steepest and fastest trails the valley has to offer.

Neil is quite a cautious kind of person.

He really thinks things through, and this morning he said,

"I think I'm the happiest I've ever been."

Right now, this place...

This place is bike central in the UK,

and one of the most happening places in Europe.

I couldn't be more proud of that. That's fantastic.

It's great for all of the local riders.

Yeah, I'm just really, really pleased.

Right, guys, the next guy is Calum Grant,

and he's a local boy and he's going to win.

The super-talented Calum Grant. Give him a big cheer.

At the start, the riders are welcomed by the crowd

before they hit the dirt.

Have a great race, Calum. Enjoy yourself.

CHEERING AND WHISTLING

Alongside their biking heroes, the Valley's youngest riders,

including Fiona's daughter Rose, see off the pro riders.

Who have we got? Rose Dalgleish and Katie Winston, everybody.

-CHEERING

-Go, Rosie-pose!

It's a big week for David and his stud team -

they've finally arrived at the home of flat racing.

D-Day. It's exciting. It's so great, actually, it's...

It's good today because we have two horses that we haven't got a clue,

really, how they're going to go,

so it gives that real element of a bit of suspense.

You know, we could well end up not selling both of them,

or could sell both of them,

erm, so it's quite exciting.

Newmarket and the Tattersalls Auctions

have been the epicentre of horse sales for 250 years.

Over the next three days, the Floors team will aim to sell

six horses in one of the world's most prestigious sales.

-You know, he lunges nicely. He's a...

-Yeah, he's sweet.

-For a big horse.

-Yeah.

-There's a bit of strength there.

-Thank you.

-Lovely.

-Gorgeous.

-Thank you. Good boy.

-But before they hit the sale ring,

they're showcased to prospective buyers.

This is... This is what it's all been building up to.

Yeah. It's a busy, busy couple of days.

It's good. It's lovely when it's busy like this.

-Look at you.

-Fire away.

-Good girl.

-It's hoped that sales success starts with

their first horse, the daughter of top sprinter Oasis Dream.

45 is from Floors Stud -

it's a filly by Oasis Dream out of Federation.

At 80,000, 80,000...

At 80,000... 85... 85 now.

At 85. Can I get an 85?

85, 90,000. 90,000...

At 90,000. At 100,000.

100,000.

At 100,000. Can I get 100,000? 100,000.

At 100, 100 I see. At 100 now, but I...

One and only 100.

At 105. 105. At 105 now.

The hammer's up. I sell you now at 105.

Last time. Peter Doyle. Thank you very much indeed.

-Fantastic. That was really good.

-Well done, you.

That was, yeah, especially the first one.

You think you're...

The one you were thinking was going to struggle most,

goes and sells well, so that's really good.

It'll go to a good trainer.

You know, it's the best start for her, erm,

and a good start for us.

A solid start,

but, as they hand the filly over to the new owners,

David knows many hurdles lie ahead.

Right.

With one horse sold, there's another five to go.

At Springwood Park, it's the morning of the Kelso Show,

and everyone is spruced up, including Robert.

This is the final push for show day.

We're just making them look as pretty as we can,

and as correct as we can,

but nervous times.

Lottie, she's all right.

She's... I think she's fairly excited about the day, so...

We need to get your tie on, as well.

You're looking a bit scruffy.

Our calf looks...

Yeah, it looks all right today, so hopefully it'll behave.

That's the main thing.

It doesn't matter how it's placed, as long as it behaves for...

Cos we don't want it to get a fright, so...

Robert has seven cows, one calf and Lottie to look after.

-MOOING

-The button's sticking to my fingers.

Where's your mother when we need her?

-Well, she's in Sainsbury's, I think.

-ROBERT LAUGHS

Don't work with children and animals -

you try and do both on the same day and it's near impossible.

I feel half confident and half nervous.

Now, what do you think, Lottie? How you think we're going to get on?

I think we're at least going to get a sixth.

-A sixth?

-Yeah.

That's a good ambition to have.

We'll hope so.

The plan is for Robert and Lottie to show cow Julia with her calf

in the first category for Best Heifer.

In the ring, Lottie must keep her calf under close control.

To impress the judges, she needs to make sure the calf stands in

the correct stance, feet straight, leg in each corner.

Tickle her.

Robert's dad Ron is watching on from the ringside.

-I'm very proud to watch them together...

-Yeah.

..and I think Lottie's doing very well.

I'm a little nervous, with an eight-year-old in a show ring.

I mean, it's fun, but it's serious stuff.

Over to the judges.

First prize to Lottie's heifer and calf.

-Give it to my daughter.

-Yes, of course.

Congratulations. Well done. Can you shake my hand?

The cow and calf are the Best Female here today,

in the judges' opinion...

and obviously mine.

But there's no rest for this winning duo -

it's on to the challenge of Best In Breed.

We've got to take the cow and calf up against the Best Bull.

Head up. Look at the judge. Good girl. Keep tickling.

Thank you.

More success for Lottie and Robert.

-Well done.

-Thank you very much. Thank you.

-Thank you.

Another first prize.

That's the best Hereford exhibit here today in the judges' opinion,

so I'm delighted about that.

No, no, if you keep her tight...

Lottie's mum Lucy has arrived to see the big win.

I was really proud of Lottie. I think she did really well.

-MOOING

-Yeah, I was really proud of you.

You were being very firm and assertive with the...

with the heifer, so...

BELL RINGING

Upriver in Glentress Forest, the Enduro is in full swing.

Well, we'll see if we can wander up a wee bit

and catch some of the madness.

Neil has brought Fiona along to see how the riders

are handling the trails.

Oof!

Now, it's nice that we get a chance for a wee romantic walk together.

Do you know where we're going?

Well, if we keep going up here, we'll get to the top.

-Yes!

-Oh-ho!

-Nicely done.

-Sweet.

-It's not for faint-hearted folk, is it?

-Oh, he's got you. He's got you!

-Whoa!

Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!

-CHEERING

-Yes! Get in!

That gives me goose pimples.

It takes such a lot of bravery, it's amazing.

With riders hitting speeds of 30mph...

Down the hill, dude, down the hill.

..Neil's marshalling skills come in handy to keep the riders on course.

It's the last stage, the last few minutes of racing...

Folk are getting pretty tired, really focused straight ahead,

and sometimes it's hard to remember your lines,

even from practice, so...

Down the hill, Rupert. Down the hill.

That's what it's all about.

Fantastic to see.

-BELL RINGING

-Come on!

-Wow!

Seeing those top riders down that stuff, just, I love it.

At Newmarket, the stud team have sold three horses.

But the sales haven't met their high expectations.

I feel the pressure mounting a little bit.

We think this should make quite a bit more than the others.

They are down to their final three horses.

The pressure is getting on a bit now

because we've had our first three horses

and we are getting into our best three horses now,

so it would be nice if this lad could go on and make a bit of money,

but, as I said before, it's out of our hands now.

Nothing else we can do.

If they want to buy him, they will buy him.

Good luck, David.

Good boy, good boy.

In the ring, the bidding reaches the 200,000 mark.

At 200,000 now. At 200,000, 220?

220 now, 230 bid,

230, 240, 240 now.

At 240,000, all done and sold this time.

All done at 240,000.

It's a good price,

but nowhere near the magic million the team aspire to.

I think we are maybe just slightly disappointed with a couple of them,

but they have all sold and they have sold reasonably well

and then it builds up to the Frankel tomorrow afternoon,

but we've been knocked a couple of times, so...

confidence is not quite as strong as it was, maybe.

We'll have to see how it goes.

Robert and Lottie are in championship form at the Kelso Show.

Well, we're going into the parade and then, at the end of the parade,

there is the Champion of Champions, so the cow does battle

with the chicken, the goat, a couple of horses, a sheep.

No other cows though, just this cow.

Our parade today is led by the Hereford cow.

With their star cow and calf, they are hoping for one last big win.

John Elliot could give it to the rabbit, do you know that?

Keep looking at the judge, Lottie.

Oh, thank you! Thank you!

APPLAUSE

You probably couldn't have any more of a successful day, actually,

so everything just seemed to fall into line today.

The Champion of Champions, it's a total lottery,

but it's really great to win that, so... Thank you.

I think... I think Lottie on the halter helped an awful lot as well.

Very tired, very sore arms, but extremely happy.

I could scream with happiness.

Like this is a dream.

I'm hoping it's not a dream in my head,

but it's like...supreme.

It's an early start for David, Peter and Gareth...

..and the final day of the sales.

Whichever way you look at it,

it's probably our biggest day of the year,

whether it goes right or wrong.

Certainly feel on edge this morning,

but our job is pretty much done, to be honest.

She's looking forward to it.

"Oh, yes," she says, "Bring it on."

Sired by Frankel, their next colt is carrying huge expectations.

12 months of hard graft, preparation and training

come down to just a few minutes in the sale ring.

Expectations always get... They get too high.

You can't just... You've got to keep the lid on it.

You're always wanting the best, always wanting the most money,

but it doesn't always work like that.

You just end up disappointed, so just try and keep a lid on it,

and prepare them just the same,

get them ready just the same as the other horses

and then see what happens.

All stories don't end happy, but here's hoping this does.

Stud groom Gareth will be leaving Floors in the winter,

so he is given the honour of walking out the son of Frankel.

Gareth is going to take the Frankel up.

Last Book 1 lead-up at Floors.

See if he can join the million-pound club!

THEY LAUGH

Hello, big man, how are we doing?

Eh? Mr cool?

'Everybody in the team has done a good job,

'when you see the horse, how he looks,

'how he has got here, it's a long, long process.'

This is the end of the line for us with him.

This is our last bit of the jigsaw, or whatever you want to call it.

This is the last piece.

The moment of truth for Gareth, David and Peter,

the Frankel takes to the arena.

By a champion, Frankel,

what a start to stud he's had, as well.

Out of a champion and Attraction.

100,000 bid straightaway, 100,000 there,

200,000 bid. At 200,000 now.

The bidding at 300. 300. At 300,000 now, anybody...

All David and Peter can do now is watch.

At 400 now, if you're going to bid now, I need 400.

400, at 400 the bidder now.

Out of great Frankel, the great Attraction as well.

500,000 now. 50 if you like.

At only 500, I have...

The bidding reaches a crucial milestone.

950.

Is it a million?

A million is bid.

At a million I have.

To David and Peter's delight, the bidding smashes past a million.

A million one bid, at a million one I have.

At a million two now, but I sell him, I sell him, I do,

make no mistake here, you know.

Son of Frankel and Attraction.

A million three.

At a million four...

A million five...

A million six...

At a million six is bid.

At a million six, I'll sell at the far partition.

At a million six, all done everywhere here?

At 1,600,000,

all done at 1,600,000, last time.

Shadwell Estates,

thank you very much indeed and the very best of luck with him.

It's an amazing result for David's team.

The Frankel colt has sold for 1.6 million.

-Good lad, good lad. Superb job.

-Well done! Well done.

Well done, you.

It was superb.

That's good. You get to the point,

you think when all the money is flying about,

are you going to miss the boat?

I always thought it was a million-pound horse,

he got a bit extra, so I'm happy.

Some result, eh?

Yes! Well done, you!

Well done, that was brilliant, wasn't it?

Congratulations! That's fantastic!

When you get up to 600,000 or 700,000, it just goes dead silent

and all you can hear is clip, clop, clip, clop...

I felt as though I was in there for about half an hour,

but it was good, though.

-Amazing, isn't it?

-Superb! Superb!

Yeah, I'm very proud, very proud.

Actually, I'm very proud of everyone because it is,

it's an enormous team effort, you know,

from the farriers, the vets... It's good.

It's some work that goes into it.

A quick farewell from the Duke of Roxburghe...

-You good boy.

-HE KISSES THE HORSE

You did that well. I'm just going to go round.

Well done, well done.

..and the Frankel heads to his new home.

It's been a summer to remember along the River Tweed.

New businesses have been launched,

revered Tweed salmon have been caught,

bailiffs and biologists have helped protect the river,

brides have made it down the aisle

and riders have hit the valleys and forests along the River Tweed.

And at Newmarket, all six horses have sold,

earning the stud a record-breaking £3 million.

Six out of six. Actually, six out of six...

-Six out of six is the biggest achievement.

-It is.

-To get rid of all your horses in a tricky market...

-Yes.

-To break the record for the stud.

-Yes. All behaved themselves.

All behaved themselves, which is our job,

-and the boss is happy!

-Yes, that's it!

-And we are heading back to Scotland! What more do we want?!

-Wey-hey!

-THEY LAUGH

-Bye-bye, England! Hello, Scotland!